BTS Asset Management Inc. Invests $288,000 in Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT)

BTS Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 669 shares of the software giant’s stock, valued at approximately $288,000. Microsoft comprises 0.3% of BTS Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 169.2% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 70 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Microsoft in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Microsoft in the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Microsoft by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Microsoft by 241.4% during the second quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC now owns 379 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Microsoft from $506.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $508.46.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other Microsoft news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares in the company, valued at $23,850,961.92. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock worth $17,383,892. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Microsoft Price Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $437.03 on Friday. Microsoft Co. has a 1-year low of $366.50 and a 1-year high of $468.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a net margin of 35.61% and a return on equity of 34.56%. The company had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, September 16th that permits the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the software giant to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Microsoft Company Profile

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.